


we are working on it (it may takes us a while)

by softestark



Series: sun is shining and so are you [1]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Established Relationship, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Misunderstandings, Post-Canon, Post-Movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:01:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25597702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softestark/pseuds/softestark
Summary: Nile was somehow uncomfortable with Nicky’s and Joe’s PDA. Or not.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia & Nile Freeman & Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani & Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Nile Freeman & Nicky | Nicolo di Genova
Series: sun is shining and so are you [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861891
Comments: 11
Kudos: 321





	we are working on it (it may takes us a while)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> I'm still in the middle of researching for the second chapter of my other Joe x Nicky fic, and I wanted to relax a bit and write something more indulgent. I love found families and I love seeing Joe's and Nicky's relationship through Nile's eyes, but this took a turn and it gave me the opportunity to explore their relationships. I loved them all too much ;_;

Everything seemed to be just alright. As much as it could in the life of four immortals. Booker had left and the rest had decided to keep it low profile for a time, get away from their frenetic lifestyle, to give Nile an opportunity to know them and to know herself better. They had chosen one of their many refuges in Italy. The country was beautiful that time of the year. “Italy has changed a lot this centuries but it remains the same” Joe had said when they took land in Naples’ airport. “Do you remember how much poetry there was in Venice in the 16th?” he had asked Nicky, who remembered perfectly well his centuries wandering through the Mediterranean with Joe by his side, “although the only good poet was Veronica Franco, of course”. Nile usually asked who they were talking about, although half of the time she didn’t believe anything they told her, like the time Joe talked about the crush Michelangelo got on Nicky. She didn’t believe that one, but the tone in Joe’s voice when he said that Michelangelo decided it was for the better to not bother Nickyanymore made her think that perhaps that one was true.

The refuge was outside Naples, close to one of the many villages around the city. A house with a garden, hidden between big trees and the only access being an old road. It didn’t stand out but it didn’t make it clear it was a hidden place. Throughout the centuries they had mastered the traits they were looking for in such a place.

They fell easily enough in some sort of routine. Nile saw her days were getting filled with training and studying. Big folders and files carefully arranged where they kept records of their missions. They spent a lot of days explaining what kind of missions they did accept and why they kept physical records as opposed to store their information in the cloud (“they are unhackable” Andy said “and we kept them in many locations, not all of our information is kept together in one single place”) and, well, another big chunk of time was spent translating it to her, as some of it was written in languages she didn’t know and scripts she didn’t even recognise. She also studied languages, both because she needed to better communicate with the team and because she was fascinated by the vaste knowledge of languages and scripts their friends knew. Andy knew of languages long time dead, and Nile used to ask her how she could remember some of them. Andy would answer that she couldn’t forget minoan, as it was a beautiful language and she had been happy in Crete for a long time. Nile wanted to ask if it was there where she was worshipped as a goddess but she refrained her curiosity for another time. Joe and Nicky also knew their fair share of languages. From the geonese from Nicky’s youth, or the classical arabic from Joe’s infancy, to the castillian they both learned in the 15th century in Castilla.

Sometimes Andy went away for a few days and Nile remained with Nicky and Joe, resuming her training. She cherished those moments because she was already fond of the two men. Perhaps being an immortal as them and helping them to scape from kidnapping was enough justification to forge such a relationship in so little time.

But the atmosphere grew odd after a few weeks. Nicky, more observant, was starting to notice that there was something amiss. And each day it got more evident to him that something was going on with Nile. Her behaviour, as Nicky as labelled it tentatively as ‘odd’,usually coincided with Andy’s absences, when they were just the three of them in the house. In many occasions, once Nile had finish her training for the day, she excused herself, going for a walk, and sometimes she was out for hours. At the beginning, Joe had offered to go with her, leaving his sketch notebook or his place beside Nicky in the sofa. But Nile had always rejected the offering, with a too honest smile in her face to doubt her. His behaviour wasn’t specially weird. All of them, except, perhaps, Nicky and Joe, had needed time with themselves, on their own, to truly understand what was becoming of their life. Neither Nicky nor Joe wanted to intrude in Nile’s introspection moments.

But that explanation grew weaker soon enough. When they were the four of them, Nile laughed, and she usually did tons of questions, about their lifes, their pasts and the the rest of them found difficult to imagine their life without her luminous and decidide personality. It was manifesting clear enough that only when she was with the two men there was something putting her off, and Nicky needed to know what was bothering her. He wanted to help.

He had spent several days deciding how to approach the topic, thinking about speaking with Andy first (because Joe already knew everything) or even scolding himself for being too dramatic. The explanation, the only explanation that could fit, as Nicky thought with a heaviness in his stomach, presented itself on a otherwise typical thursday.

Andy and Nile had gone to train outside, taking advantage of the great weather, and the two men have decided to also take advantage of the empty house and the spare time that was given to them so generously. They were in the couch, Joe was zapping while Nicky tried to read a book. It had been a solid quarter of hour when he realised he hadn't read a word because he was too focus on the way Joe’s eyes were looking him from head to toe. The warmth he radiated by his side was starting to rise his desire. They both knew how that was going to end, a perfect routine they had indulge over the centuries, but there was something still exciting about delaying the moment where they’ll end up with their tongues in each other’s throat.

Nile was back before they anticipated, thinking about retrieving his weights and do a some heavy training, but she found a scene she was not expecting. Nicky was laying back in the couch, with Joe all over him, his head hidden in the crook of his neck while Nicky’s hands were touching his back under the shirt, grabbing his shoulders to keep him close. Nile mumbled an apology and she went out quickly, not even looking at them. They kept watching the door where she had disappeared for a moment before Joe chuckled. Nicky smiled to him and nodded towards their bedroom.

What could’ve been merely an anecdote, another of thousands (and they knew it wasn’t the first time they were caught being too effusive) turned into the most awkward dinner they had shared. The food was delicious but the conversation, carried on usually by Nile’s questions and numerous stories and private jokes, was quick and short, muffled by the odd atmosphere around them. Andy tasted the wine, slowly, while watching the three of them.

“What’s going on?” she asked, with a voice tone that didn’t admite evasives. Nile startled and denied with his head.

“Nothing” she said, getting up, picking up her plate and leaving it in the sink before going to her bedroom.

“She caughted us today, in the couch” Joe answered, biting his smile. Andy rolled off her eyes and smiled, amused.

“She’s already integrated in the team, then”.

“Oops?” Joe said, without malice nor repentance. But Nicky was still looking the door of her room, pensive. He didn’t believe that was the reason. Nile hadn’t look embarrassed in the dinner, she looked uncomfortable.

That night Nicky talked to Joe about his theory. Joe knew he had been worried for weeks. They never kept things like that from each other, not when the other was half their heart and half their life. Joe had realised too that sometimes Nile was acting odd, but he found it quite normal, even something that they could expect, given the situation. He had been saying to Nicky that she needed time to adjust. But Nicky now had another interpretation and he needed to share it with Joe.

“She was adjusting so well, she got used to this very quickly, much quicker than Booker” he said, wondering, sitting in their bed. “But perhaps she is uncomfortable. With us. Being this open” he wrinkled his nose and Joe wanted to kiss him to make the frown disappear. Nicky didn’t want to think that was the explanation, but he was running out of ideas. It couldn’t be a coincidence that they were fine when all of them were together but as soon as it was the three of them she seemed to be uncomfortable. And Nicky had noticed a few looks she tried to disguise when he kissed Joe, or even her attitude at the dinner.

“If that’s the reason, I’m not going to stop in her behalf, Nicolò” Joe said, without a hint of anger in his voice. After nine hundred years together they could say anything that crossed their minds without the fear of being judged. Nicky didn’t feel the need to answer to that, knowing that Joe knew perfectly well he wasn’t going to stop either. Never. Joe sitted right next to him, putting a hand on his knee and giving it a squeeze.

“I’m worried” Nicky said. Joe kissed his cheek, offering comfort with the closeness of their bodies.

“Go talk to her, amore” he said softly, nudging him with the shoulder. “Maybe she’s just confused about this. In the middle of the mission she hadn’t the time to stop and think. Now she has it. We shouldn’t have let her alone so many times. She need us” he said, and there was so much warmth in his brown eyes that Nicky felt his insides melting. Joe smiled, knowing too well by the slight change in Nicky’s face, what he was thinking. He brought his face closer and Nicky smiled in return, turning his head to find the exact angle they knew fit them perfectly. Joe kissed him slowly, savouring his lips and caressing them lightly with the tip of his tongue. “Don’t come back too late, habibi” his voice was low and soft, rich in promises.

Nile was reading in her bed when Nicky knocked at her door. She got up, letting him pass.

“Hi, Nile” he said, getting a bright smile in return and he thought once more that perhaps he was exaggerating things. “I wanted to talk with you”.

Nile frowned but she moved to let him sit with her.

“It makes you uncomfortable that me and Joe are affectionate in public?”

Nicky didn’t know how to sugarcoat things. He said exactly what he thought. As he was a good and kind person, they usually were nice things, but he wasn’t a person who could hide what he truly believe. Nile opened her eyes and her mouth to say something, but Nicky continued speaking.

“I wanted to talk to you about this because I’ve been concerned for a while now. About you and about how you act around us. I thought you enjoyed being with us, but if it isn’t the case…” he stopped, not knowing exactly how to continue with the conversation. Nile was family, Nicky had Joe but also Andy, and Booker, and Nile, and she only had them. He didn’t want her to lose them and he was going to do all he can to ease the situation, but there was something he wouldn’t put on the line. Not for this, nor for nothing, not ever. “If Joe was here he could probably give you this grand speech about how much he loves me and how much he doesn’t care that everyone knows. I’m not Joe but I won’t change my relationship” he said. “I think we keep it PG enough so it isn’t uncomfortable for anyone, but we aren’t going to change just because someone doesn’t accept us”.

“Wait” Nile finally could interject in his speech, catching his wrist tomake him stop the monologue “Do you think that I’m uncomfortable with your PDA… because you are two men?”.

“I’ve never thought it when I first met you, but I don’t know what to think anymore”.

“Of course not! Not at all!” she said, raising his voice a bit. “I thought I was the one making you uncomfortable. You are so used to be with each other that I felt I was intruding your privacy. I wanted to give you space because I thought you were resenting my presence when it was just the two of you. You know, that you wanted time to be together” she finished. Nicky chuckled, unable to stop the laugh when he realised the absurd situation.

“So I thought you were uncomfortable with us and you thought we were the ones being uncomfortable”.

Nile chuckled too.

“We need to get better with communication” she said, half joking, and they both laughed again. “Seriously, though, I got not problem. Apart from this afternoon, that is an image I’m still trying to erase from my mind” she teased. “Catching you was a bit uncomfortable, yes. But not for the reasons you thought. I don’t mind what you both do. I want you to be happy, I’m glad that you are happy,” she said, and she lowered her voice, “it gives me hope”. Nicky understood too well what she was meaning with that. He and Joe are the proof that it is possible to keep a bound strong for so long, they are proof that immortality wasn’t a curse, a sentence to life without family or love. Nicky and Joe, and Andy and Booker too, are the proof that it is possible.

“You are sweet” Nicky said, unable to stop himself. “I was worried. At first I thought you felt lonely, that maybe you were even angry with us, with what we have. We could have understand that. Andy doesn’t get angry but she feels guilty, because of what happened with Quyhn, yet she was always happy for us. I thought you were going through something similar, our love can sometimes be too much” he doesn’t want to mention Booker but he knows they are both thinking of him. “We are a family, Nile, although we sometimes spend time apart. And,” he added, “although the rest of you think otherwise, Joe and I are perfectly able to not be all over each other. I thought you were getting away from us because you were uncomfortable with our relationship.

“I’m not and I couldn’t care less that you are two men” she assured him again. Nicky laughed again and kissed her in the temple, hugging her with his right arm.

“Good, because you are stuck with us for a long time”.

The next day, Nicky prepared a special plate for Joe, and the dinner passed quickly, with jokes and anecdotes and the poetry Joe was improvising about the cooking skills of the man of his life. Nicky listened to the praising with a soft smile in his face and took advantage of Joe sitting by his side to caress the back of his hand. Joe, without losing a beat of his monologue, intertwined their fingers with the lightness of who had done the same movement many times before, and they smiled at each other for a moment. When Nicky turned to continue with his food, he catched Nile’s soft gaze and smiled to her. The bright smile Nile gave him in return could have light the entire room.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!!!! I hope you liked it! 
> 
> The title obviously makes reference to the fact they need to get better at communicating what they feel <3 But it's okay, they have plenty of time for that. 
> 
> Some notes:
> 
> Veronica Franco was a poet and a courtesan who lived in Venice in the 16th and was very popular.  
> I don't know where it came the idea of them having physical records in an extinct language but it makes sense to me.  
> I really like the idea of Andy living in Minoan Crete. It matches the chronology and the weapon she uses (the labrys, the double-headed axe) was found several times in Minoan iconography and it is strongly associated with a female divinity. So yeah. Perhaps I'll write something about this in the future. 
> 
> Translations:  
> amore (italian): love  
> habibi (arabic): my love


End file.
